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The Zen of Craigslist
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I’m a great fan of free bulletin boards like Craigslist (www.craigslist.com). Craigslist allows individuals to list (for free!) possessions for sale in their local area. I have sold over forty items (including desks, filing cabinets, and office equipment) on Craigslist and have purchased about fifteen items, including a desk, for my new home and home office. I love the fact that Craigslist has helped me sell my possessions for more than I could have received at a garage sale, and I’ve been able to purchase things at 30 percent of retail. However, the real value of this experience has been what I’ve learned about my business and myself in the process. Lessons of CraigslistCraigslist allows anyone to post an item free (there are lots of categories, but I’m writing only about selling and buying things). It’s a simple process to digitally list and describe what you are selling, including setting a price and giving your general location to help buyers screen their searches. Although there is apparently no limit on the amount of advertising text, I started off writing ads with minimal text and learned my first lesson: Users let you know what you’ve left out. I thought the most important details about my oak desk were its dimensions, but potential buyers e-mailed questions about the composition (oak veneer over pressboard); its age (less than five years); and the brand (Bell). Their queries provided a good lesson in marketing myself: Do I know what my potential clients want to know about my business? Am I leaving out details that are important to them? I need to ask these questions and listen to their answers. My second lesson came as I learned to provide good pictures to post with each listing. At first, I thought it was enough to shoot one quick picture of the item on the garage floor. When I got better with “staging” the pictures by covering that old stained floor with sheets or shooting pictures at different angles and various lighting, I received more hits on my postings. Note to self: Be explicit, and creative, with my marketing graphics. Creating attractive word or digital pictures will help sell my product (which is actually me). My third lesson came in pricing my household goods for sale. I did my competitive shopping online, but in the beginning, I was hoping for more money for my particular desk or end table. I guess I was still attached to these possessions. After a listing languished for several days with no hits, I was forced to think about lowering the price. Here’s a practical hint: Craigslist provides an easy editing function, but don’t just change the price on the original listing. Since all listings are chronologically organized, your old listing may be 75 to 300 listings deep in the queue. Instead, copy the text of your old ad and delete the listing, then post a brand-new listing with the lower price (you’ll have to add the pictures again). As for setting prices, I learned that used goods sell on Craigslist for between 30 percent and 50 percent of retail. Desks and furniture often sell at the lower end, but specialized items like IKEA furniture or in-demand baby items like Brita car seats will command 50 percent or more of their original price. Pricing used goods for sale is, of course, different than pricing my services. However, the methods and principles are the same: Research the competition; price realistically; be flexible when necessary. And don’t take the market personally. Often, the rate we can command is affected by forces beyond our control. My fourth lesson from Craigslist was to focus, focus, focus. At first I listed about ten items for sale concurrently, and I found myself totally distracted by the traffic. With the resulting flood of e-mail, I couldn’t keep track of my inventory and potential buyers. Once I learned to post only a few items at a time, I found the process more manageable. This lesson just reinforced what I know is true: I am more efficient if I focus fully on one task at a time. After awhile, I realized I was actually cross-selling. The fellow who bought my bike rack mentioned canoeing, and I said I’d be selling my beloved canoe in a month. We negotiated a price and I called him when I was ready to part with it. I didn’t have to advertise. That experience led me to lesson number 5: Perhaps I should practice the same skill of cross-selling in my business. (“You don’t need a class in technical writing? How about a class in creating better presentation slides?”) My final lesson was about patience. My first Craigslist posting (an oak secretary desk) sold in five hours. Wow, I thought, sales go fast! Then my next item, my trusty canoe rack, didn’t sell, although I had many inquiries. I let the ad run and moved on to list other things. A month later, I received a panicked e-mail; the buyer needed this rack immediately! Thirty minutes later, he drove off, smiling, with my canoe rack, and I had a fistful of cash and an important lesson about waiting. Life, the Universe, and EverythingBut I learned a much more profound truth about patience and the universe from Craigslist. So far, this experience had served as a metaphor for my business practice, but the true message was much more metaphysical. Craigslist taught me to trust in a universal principle: Everything sells to the right person at the right time at the right price. I was not in control of any of these variables. All I was responsible for was the footwork: Write the best, most explicit, most attractive marketing I could; set the fairest price I could determine; and then offer a prayer that the right person would come along and buy at the right time and price. So I stopped fretting and started watching. Sure enough, a gentle, spiritual man bought my canoe. An English teacher bought my favorite oak desk. A young couple with an energetic dog bought the huge doghouse that had housed my once-energetic dog. Everyone I dealt with was respectful in negotiations and thrilled with their purchases. They smiled as they drove away, and I smiled as I drove to the bank. I was grateful that someone new was enjoying the things I no longer needed. Everything was happening as it should. And of course, this is the message of a book I’ve mentioned in my column before: Attracting Perfect Customers by Stacey Hall and Jan Brogniez. I first read this book in 2004, and I am finally seeing the benefits of their Strategic Synchronicity marketing model: “Expect your every need to be met, expect the answer to every problem, expect abundance on every level….” EnlightenmentI no longer fret about my income and my work. I trust that the universe, or the God of my understanding, will deliver all three parts of the equation—although not necessarily at my price or timing. I am currently awaiting the results of a very large bid. The client is two weeks behind in its decision-making, and I’m startlingly calm. If the work comes to me, it was the right client at the right price and the right time. If not, the right client will come along at the right time. This belief frees a lot of energy to be plowed into my existing contracts, to provide the very best service to my clients, to do my absolute best work, and trust that the equation will work on my behalf. And the process does work. In the last twelve months, I have netted more
income than I ever have from my business while worrying less. I’ve
also had the most fun of my life with each contract. I’m grateful
to Craigslist for helping me sell and buy household and office items,
but, more important, for teaching me this valuable lesson. About the author: © Elizabeth Frick, Ph.D., The Text Doctor® |
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